Role-Play Debate for course EngC 1015

I agree with your challenge of asking for someone to promote a better system. Nothing has arisen in our reading that holds any major threats to the free-market of the world. Some alternatives options would be cool to hear about.

the point of all the critisism of globalization is in the hopes that we can see our mistakes and correct them, or somehow find an alternative. the problem is human beings have never been put in a situation like this before. Globalization can't be defended by simply saying "well, what better options do we have?"

But giving the Ireland example was very good. I don't know anything about the situation there, but if you're correct then we could learn a few things from them.

You bring up a good point when challenging the idea of "working better" as a criteriea to judge a system. I, too, find the term problematic. For whom is the new system working better, and how are those individuals reinvesting their benefits?

I'm also interested in this example from Ireland. Was consideration of social institutions considered when deregulating trade?

Your right in that there isn't a better system in use today. What is Ireland doing that the U.S. isn't doing? And as for finding a better system I don't know if it's better but the theroy behind Communism would be an ecellent form of government. Everyone would be equal and make the same amount. Everyone would have a job and poverty wouldn't exist. Unforunatly everytime someone attempts to set up a communist country something goes wrong and the government goes corrupt.

I agrees with what you said about most countries running a hybrid system, that still has an emphasis on globalization. I believe one of the main reasons why countries haven’t been like Ireland in trying to invent there own system, is a reluctance to change. Many countries most importantly the US have been using the same old system for years. Though these systems have there flaws, they still for the most part work, and have been reliable in the past. So I think there taking the attitude why fix something that isn’t broken. This mentality however can be dangerous, because those countries might need to change someday but they wont until its to late.

Wait...did someone just say communism could work? Ouch...we tried that....you kinda shot yourself in the foot when you said that when it has been tried in the past the government went corrupt...and things went wrong...thats because...communism does not work...as for being equal and earning the same, where is the incentive? If a guy that is building space shuttles makes the same as the guy collecting garbage...why even bother showing up...well...read 1984 or Animal Farm, that pretty much sums it up.

Who's to say if communism cannot work, it has NEVER been executed the way Marx says it should be. Even from the beginning of the Russian, Chinese, and Cuban revolutions it wasn't communism as it is defined by Marx. Russia was NEVER communist, nor is China, and nor is Cuba (which are the countries that are often referred to). So "anonymous" didn't shoot him/herself in the foot.

Incentive lies in caring about your fellow man as an equal to you. Wanting to benefit the whole of humanity not just yourself. It can tend to be hard to see this when one has lived in a capitalist society for most of their life, being as you are constantly told that you need to make money and thats the only thing that matters. In saying there is no incentive in a classless society you are reducing life to a dollar amount per day.

I don't really get where you are going with your 1984 and Animal Farm references, I've also read those books several times. But since we are on the topic of books, maybe you should read something by Marx or Upton Sinclair's The Jungle.

Don't know where I'm going? Read them again I guess. The Jungle was good, Marx is a bit dry. I'm not talking about China, now; or Russia in the 80's, or Cuba...well...ever. I'm talking about the attempt to accomplish such a feat. Sure, cute idea, just like Mr. Hans Kung's. Care about fellow man and whatnot. To say that Russia did not attempt a classless society is a joke: They did, and a man with a mustache saw weakness, weakness he could exploit. In the end, classless societies are too easy to exploit. History always repeats itself.

That Great Transformation piece sort of scared the hell out of me. Who is somebody to tell us that "no view is more deluded than the belief that the future lies with 'democratic capitalism'"? Is is strange to imagine that "all of the new species of capitalism have in common is that they are not converging on any western model". If what this author proposes is true, how long can a democracy last if it is not reformed? I guess I would aggree with the author that the free market system needs more checks and balances to help sustain an efficient and beneficial global economy.

I agree, every economic system has its fatal flaws. The only problem that i see with Gray's essay is that he forgets how good the American people are at adapting when they feel a crunch. When it gets tough enough, our people will buckle down and dominate again. I think that we are getting a little to used to seeing everything from the top. Our economy needs to continue to be innovative to stay at the top, which I don't doubt will happen.